Hinges, and in particular, hinges used with appliances and cabinetry take a variety of forms and arrangements. In view of modern kitchen designs, such hinges must be capable of supporting increasingly heavier doors and must also be capable of both translational and rotational movement. For example, some refrigerators are positioned within a set of cabinets such that in order to obtain access to the interior, the door must move out away from the adjacent cabinets and rotate to a position equal to or greater than ninety degrees open. Similarly, cabinet doors, oven doors and other appliances, e.g., dishwashers, benefit from hinges that are capable of the foregoing translational and rotational movement. Additionally, as these appliances are increasing in size, suitable hinges must also be capable of supporting greater weights than in the past.
A common form of such hinges includes a complex and expensive arrangement of linkages configured in such a way as to permit the necessary translational and rotational movement while being capable of supporting the necessary weight. Examples of such hinges can be found in International Patent Application Nos. PCT/EP2006/003742 and PCT/EP2006/061438. The foregoing linkage arrangements suffer from several defects, including but not limited to being difficult to modify the characteristic of the biasing forces. In short, the lengths of links and their respective pivot point positions must be modified in order to modify where and how much biasing forces are present. It should be appreciated that “biasing forces,” as used herein, is intended to mean the opening and closing forces present within a hinge when its various moving members are located in particular positions.
Due to the large range of motion hinges of the foregoing type must traverse, large openings may be created wherein an unsuspecting operator of a hinge may place her fingers and subsequently sustain an injury upon the closing of the door to which the hinge is attached. Thus, hinge designs have grown to incorporate shielding means to protect from such injuries. For example, International Patent Application No. PCT/EP2006/050531 teaches a single shield design arranged to prevent the insertion of an object, e.g., a child's finger, within the clamping linkages of the hinge. Such shielding, when present, has heretofore suffered from defects, such as binding open operation of the hinge and generally obtrusive appearances.
As can be derived from the variety of devices and methods directed at positioning a door on an enclosure and permitting the translational and rotational movement of such doors, many means have been contemplated to accomplish the desired end, i.e., reliable, controlled movement of the door relative to the enclosure. Heretofore, tradeoffs between strength, safety and functionality were required. Thus, there is a long-felt need for a hinge which both translates and rotates and includes an easily modifiable arrangement of providing biasing forces. There is a further long-felt need for a hinge having a shielding means that protects against the insertion of objects within the hinge mechanism throughout the hinge's entire range of motion.